Levels taught:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced (click here for Classical piano lessons)

Location:

San Diego or Online (currently only offered online)

Rates: (special COVID pricing in effect)

• 15 minutes for $15

• 25 minutes for $20

• 55 minutes for $40

Why do you want to learn piano?

I love teaching piano, and I think it's really important that students play music they like. I will always ask you what songs you want to learn, and if the sheet music doesn't exist, or if it's not arranged at the appropriate level for you, I'll help you either find a more suitable arrangement, or I'll transcribe it for you if I have time. I love transcribing and arranging music, whether it’s video game music, themes from TV shows or movies, or the latest pop songs! I have a whole YouTube channel dedicated to this under the channel name ArmyPianist (I used to serve in the U.S. Army).

A little about me: my name is Josh Tatsuo Cullen, and I've been playing piano for over 30 years. I have a classical background, with degrees in piano from Juilliard and New York University. But I also like to play pop, rock, and Broadway styles as well. Currently I'm one of the keyboardists on the national tour of Disney's Frozen, the Musical. We've been on pause for the pandemic for a while now, which means I have spare time to take on new students!

Before we had internet, beginning piano lessons usually went like this: the student would struggle to read the music while the teacher recited mnemonic devices like "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge," coaxing the student into finding the right keys. The teacher would spend the majority of the lesson telling the student what they did wrong, and then send the student home to practice for another week.

Thankfully we have technology to help us now. I like to use an app called Synthesia with my beginning piano students to help them practice on their own. Synthesia runs on PCs and Macs and it costs only $40, though it comes with a free trial version, and currently you can buy it for $29 through their holiday sale. If your piano keyboard has a USB port on it, you can connect it to Synthesia and the app will practice with you, showing you what keys to play and giving you instant feedback on your mistakes. That way, when you have your lessons, we can spend less time talking about wrong notes and rhythms, and more time on things like technique, posture, and sound production.

But ultimately, you don't want to play to an app because it distracts you from connecting with the music on a personal, human level. For my intermediate and advanced students, I focus on expression and style. It involves both technique and artistic expression, which I emphasize equally in my lessons. But you should also know that giving truly artistic performances usually necessitates memorizing the music, at least in part. Think of it like acting--an actor would never perform with a script in their hand! There are, of course, many times where professional musicians perform with the music in front of them, but I would argue that most of them have practiced the music enough to know large portions of it from memory. Knowledge of music theory helps us memorize music, so I am happy to teach music theory as it applies to the music we learn together. (Don't worry, I won't assign you a textbook, not unless you want one!)

I look forward to meeting you and helping you along your journey! I like to tailor my lessons to each individual student. I'll guide you and provide my opinion on how best to achieve your goals, but ultimately these are your lessons, and I like to think I am flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of students!

* A note about online lessons: I teach using a Yamaha AvantGrand N1X, which contains a fully-weighted wooden grand piano action, yet I am able to connect it through a USB cable, meaning there's no degradation of audio quality along the signal path from the piano to the Internet. This allows me to demonstrate very fine nuances in dynamics and pedaling.

That doesn't mean you have to have the same or similar setup, of course! It's most important that you be able to hear me clearly, and less important the other way around. I trust that if you hear me play something a certain way, you'll be able to use your ears to guide your own practice, even if I can't hear the nuances myself as your teacher. The only reason I'm talking about this at all is because I want to assure you that I use good equipment, in case you’re concerned about the sound quality of your online lessons.

Levels taught:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Location:

San Diego or Online (currently only offered online)

Rates: (special COVID pricing in effect)

• 25 minutes for $20

• 55 minutes for $40

Why study Classical Piano with me?

I believe pianists are storytellers. Do you agree?

I've been playing piano for over 30 years, and I have a Master's in Piano from the Juilliard School, where I studied with Jerome Lowenthal. I truly believe that whether you're playing Beethoven or Gershwin, you're telling a story. Technique is necessary to play the instrument, which we can certainly work on together. But to give a compelling performance, you must have something to say with the music. That's my specialty as a teacher: helping students find a genuine, personal interpretation of the music that allows them to develop their voice as an artist.

I love thinking about:
- the composer's intent (what do we know about the composer? what can we analyze in the music?)
- what was happening in history in the time and place the piece was written?
- why you're playing it today? (what makes this piece special and meaningful to you, and why should our audience care?)

Do these questions interest you? If so, I would love to help you on your journey to becoming a better pianist. I specialize in the composers of the Classical era, like Mozart and Beethoven, but I also love Bach, Chopin, Debussy, and Gershwin.

Who are your favorites? I'd love to hear you play.

* A note about online lessons: I teach using a Yamaha AvantGrand N1X, which contains a fully-weighted wooden grand piano action, yet I am able to connect it through a USB cable, meaning there's no degradation of audio quality along the signal path from the piano to the Internet. This allows me to demonstrate very fine nuances in dynamics and pedaling.

That doesn't mean you have to have the same or similar setup, of course! It's most important that you be able to hear me clearly, and less important the other way around. I trust that if you hear me play something a certain way, you'll be able to use your ears to guide your own practice, even if I can't hear the nuances myself as your teacher. The only reason I'm talking about this at all is because I want to assure you that I use good equipment, in case you're worried about the sound quality of your online lessons.